Field of the Invention
This invention relates to joining of a plastic fascia to a plastic fender of a motor vehicle and more particularly to a ribbed tongue on one received by a slot on the other to allow for different rates of thermal expansion and hydroscopic growth of the fascia and the fender.
It is well known in motor vehicles to provide mounted decorative plastic outer body panels on a metal substructure to define the outer appearance surface of the vehicle body. The use of such plastic panels is desirable in order to obtain vehicle design goals such as weight reduction and corrosion resistance. Furthermore, relatively soft flexible plastic body outer panels offer a lessened susceptibility to damage from minor impact.
A shortcoming of the use of plastic body outer panels to define the outer appearance surface of a motor vehicle is that the plastic panel cannot be welded to the adjacent panels or the underlying metal substructure. This is further complicated by the fact that the plastic panel and the metal substructure have substantially different rates of thermal expansion. Furthermore, plastic panels are known to have a high rate of hydroscopic growth causing the plastic material to grow substantially in dimension under condition of high humidity.
It is also known to attach adjacent outer body panels, such as the front fascia and the front fender, together to form a continuous outer surface for structural, aerodynamic and styling reasons. It is known to manufacture the body panels with flanges that are bolted directly together or sandwiched together using a retainer plate. However, this method of assembly requires additional parts, requires that fasteners secured tot he flanges be hidden by the body panels thereby difficult to access, and this method does not allow for different rates of thermal expansion and hydroscopic growth.
It would be desirable to provide an attachment of adjacent plastic outer body panels in a manner which allows ease of assembly and enables thermal and hydroscopic growth of the plastic panels while permitting the body outer panels to preserve a distortion-free appearance.